8-10-11: Wings Beneath the Waves

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27090.mp3

Cownose rays dining on oysters.  Photo courtesy of Robert Fisher/Virginia Insitute of Marine Science.

Cownose rays, also called "Chesapeake Stingrays," have been flying along the Bay's bottom, vacuuming up oysters for as long as the estuary has existed.  Oyster farmers, however, want to sharply reduce ray populations because they claim rays are a growing threat to the aquaculture industry -- and this makes conservationists nervous that rays could be decimated.